Roger Hammond emerges for potential role at Israel-Premier Tech following Ineos departure

'We’re in the final stages, we’ve not made a decision yet but we’ll take on one more DS' says Carlström

14:47, Tuesday 28th November 2023

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Roger Hammond has worked as a DS for Dimension Data and Ineos Grenadiers in recent seasons

Roger Hammond is one of the leading contenders for a sports director role at Israel-Premier Tech following his departure from Ineos Grenadiers.

Hammond joined Ineos Grenadiers at the tail end of 2021 as the team’s lead sports director. His future on the British team had been a subject of speculation for some time with his departure confirmed in November following the news that Rod Ellingworth would leave the team at the end of the year.

Hammond has been in contact with Israel-Premier Tech for a number of weeks and on Monday evening the team confirmed that Hammond was on the shortlist of contenders for a sports director role for 2024.

“Honestly, we’ve interviewed quite a few guys because a lot of people reached out. We’re in the final stages but we’ve not made a decision yet, but we’ll take on one more DS. It could be Roger,” Kjell Carlström, the team’s general manager, told GCN.

According to Carlström, there are several candidates on the shortlist and a decision will be made in the coming days.

“He’s one of the guys but we’ve not made the final decision yet. We’ve interviewed him and others. Steve Bauer is our head director, and he along with myself and Rik Verbrugge are interviewing everyone. In about a week, I hope we’ll have things ready. He’s one of the candidates. There are around six or seven candidates.”

Hammond has occupied various roles throughout his post-racing career having worked at Dimension Data, Bahrain Victorious and Ineos Grenadiers. As a rider, he raced on some of the biggest teams in the world, including Cervélo Test Team, Discovery Channel, and T-Mobile.

Sep Vanmarcke retired as a rider this year while at Israel-Premier Tech and after recently passing the UCI’s DS exams will also work as a sports director on the team next season.

Israel-Premier Tech’s rider roster is now complete, with the team set to race with 30 riders in 2024. Two riders have yet to be announced but Carlström ruled out Edvald Boasson Hagen joining the team. The Norwegian had been linked to various teams during the summer, including dsm-firmenich and Uno-X.

Carlström and the rest of his management team are still preparing plans for next season and full schedules will be confirmed at the squad’s December training camps. Carlström did confirm that Chris Froome would start his season "a little later" than usual and that Corbin Strong would lead the team at the Tour Down Under in January.